Food banks are not solving food insecurity problem, expert says

The aching problem of food insecurity is much larger than food bank statistics suggest and food banks are not solving the problem, says Mary EllenPrange, chair of the Food Insecurity Workgroup.

"Only about onein fourhouseholds that experience food insecurity actually uses a food bank," Prange toldCBC Radio's Metro Morningon Wednesday.

Which is whyPrangesaid food banks are "a short-term Band-Aid on this huge gaping wound."

Prangesaid food banks havecreated a secondary food system for impoverished people when what is needed are long-term solutions.

• Listen to the Metro Morning interview here

"Families or individuals who may have bare cupboards and fridges they can go to the food bank and maybe get a few days of food, but the situation of food insecurity is not erased by that. They're still going to be struggling to put food on the table day to day," she said.

Prange is also with the Ontario Society of Nutrition Professionals in Public Heath, whichreleased its position on food security earlier this month. The groupsaid that "food charity is an ineffective and counterproductive response to food security because it does not address the root cause of poverty."

Prange stressed that donating to food banks is fine. But along with that she is calling on people to pressure politicians to take action by focusing on income-based solutions.

"So here in Toronto a living wage, what was calculated in 2015 around$19 an hour, even with our minimum wage going up to $15 an hour in 2019, we're still going to be falling short of what it costs for just basic living," she said.

Food banks fight back

Richard Matern,the director of research and communications withthe Daily BreadFood Bank, said his sector already recognizes it's the not the ideal solution.

"We have been pushing very hardon a few fronts for income-security reform, knowing that the foundation and the driving force around hunger is lack of income," he said.

Earlier this week, the Ontario Association of Food Banks released its Hungry Reportthat showed almost 500,000 people used these services between April 2016 and March 2017.

According to Carolyn Stewart,the executive Director ofthe OntarioAssociation of Food Banks,food bank use in March of 2017 was up by threeper centcompared to March of 2016, when335,944 people were served by a food bank.

• Ontario sees rise in single-person households using food banks: report

• Tuition + rent + food = hard lesson for Toronto university students using food banks

"When you have people who are about to pass out because they need foodtelling them to wait forpolicy [to]change or to push for bigger solutions isn't helpful," said Matern.

The Daily Bread Food Bank, he said,wasamong the agencies that pushed for an affordable housing benefit and getting it took ten years.

Last week, the federal government announced that a CanadaHousingBenefit would be part of itsnational housing strategy. It willprovide anaverage rent subsidy of $2,500 annually between April 2020and 2028.

• Liberals detail $40B for 10-year national housing strategy, introduce Canada Housing Benefit

Prangeis waiting to see how the housing strategywill roll out, but right now shesees promise in Ontario's Basic Income pilot project launched in Hamilton, Brantford, Brant County, Lindsay and Thunder Bay and surrounding areas.

The pilot will study how basic income affects things like housing, food securityand health care.

"It would be great if that can become a national policy because I really think we need an income floor," said Prange.

The pilot provides participants with a basic income between $16,989 and$24,027 depending on whether they aresingleor a couple, with an additional $6,000 for anyone with a disability.

Participants can go to school or work while receiving the basic income, but it will be reduced by 50 cents for every dollar a participant earns working.

Prange is encouraged by thepilot, and she hopes to see the day thatthere is no longera need for food banks.